What Awaits Sarkozy in the La Santé Facility and What Personal Items Has He Taken?
Maybe France’s most legendary correctional facility, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year jail term for illegal conspiracy to raise election financing from the Libyan government – stands as the last remaining prison within the French capital's boundaries.
Found in the southern Montparnasse area of the city, it first opened in 1867 and was the site of at least 40 capital punishments, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for refurbishment in 2014, the facility reopened in 2019 and holds more than 1,100 detainees.
Renowned ex- detainees include the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
VIP Quarters for High-Profile Prisoners
Notable or endangered detainees are usually accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “protected persons” – the dubbed “premium block” – in single cells, not the usual triple-occupancy cells, and isolated during outdoor activities for protection purposes.
Positioned on the initial level, the section has a set of uniform units and a dedicated exercise yard so inmates are not required to mingle with other prisoners – although they continue to be subject to whistles, insults and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.
Mostly for this reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. Practically, the environment are very similar as in the protected unit: the ex-president will be solitary in his unit and escorted by a guard each time he goes out.
“The aim is to avoid any problems at all, so we need to stop him from meeting other prisoners,” a prison source stated. “The easiest and best method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”
Accommodation Details
Each of the isolation and VIP cells are similar to those elsewhere in the institution, measuring about eleven square meters, with coverings on windows designed to reduce contact, a bed, a compact desk, a shower unit, WC, and fixed-line phone with pre-recorded numbers.
Sarkozy is provided with regular meals but will additionally have the option to the commissary, where he can buy groceries to make his own meals, as well as to a small solitary recreation area, a gym and the library. He can lease a refrigerator for €7.50 a monthly and a TV for €14.15.
Controlled Interactions
Besides three permitted visits a per week, he will mainly be by himself – an advantage in the prison, which despite its recent renovation is operating at about twice its designed capacity of 657 inmates. The country's jails are the third most congested in the EU.
Prison Supplies
Sarkozy, who has consistently maintained his non-guilt, has said he will be bringing with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to prison but escapes to take revenge.
Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally taking noise blockers because prison can be loud at during the night, and a few jumpers, because cells can be cold. Sarkozy has stated he is fearless of being in jail and aims to use it to compose a manuscript.
Release Prospects
It is unclear, however, for how long he will really stay in the prison: his attorneys have already filed for his early release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a risk of escaping, further crimes or interfering with witnesses to warrant his continued detention.
French law specialists have proposed he may be freed before a month passes.
